If he had picked a person out of a hat, he could not have picked someone less like Cristobel. Physically and intellectually, they barely seemed to come from the same planet.
‘Don’t tell me you’re not impressed to death,’ Gabriel said lazily, almost forgetting the whole friendship thing she had encouraged. Under the jumper he could make out the jut of her breasts and the usual host of lustful thoughts sprang out of their loosely contained cages.
‘I’m not!’
‘Liar,’ he said softly, with one of those killer smiles that made her break out in nervous goose bumps. ‘I remember when I showed you that Ferrari all those years ago and told you that it belonged to a local celebrity. You were awe struck.’
‘I was a kid!’ Alex said loftily, trying and failing to drag her eyes away from his face. ‘Did it belong to you , by the way?’
‘Will you throw something at me if I tell you that it did?’
‘Well, I’m not impressed with that sort of stuff now,’ she said. She had a sudden image of them making love in the back of the red Ferrari, which had impressed her to death at the time. It would have been a disaster, of course. They were both way too tall to ever do anything serious in the back seat of a sports car, but that sleek BMW he now drove…
She went bright red and thanked all the saints that he couldn’t read her mind.
Then she wondered whether his politeness was so horrible because she didn’t feel polite around him . Did she secretly want him to still fancy her? Even though she knew that his taste in women ran to a completely different sort and probably always had? Even though he was the kind of guy she had repeatedly told herself over the years she would never again get involved with?
‘And I hope you don’t expect me to bow and scrape to your parents just because they’re rich…’
‘I expect you to be yourself.’ Gabriel could sense her withdrawal. Just when the conversation relaxed between them, she would pull back and it enraged him because, whatever she thought of the man he was, she should open her eyes to the guy he had become, a guy who was willing to stick around for a son he had never known he had. Did it get more praiseworthy than that?
‘How much longer before we land?’
‘Very soon.’
Alex’s stomach clenched. He had told her that his parents now knew everything. His plan to tell them face to face had been scuppered by his inability to get over to Spain in time and he could hardly show up with a ready-made family in tow and expect them not to jointly collapse from the shock. So Alex knew that she would be entering the lion’s den with no defensive suit of armour. She only hoped that they would be charmed by their grandson, even if they loathed her on sight, although if they were as stiff as Gabriel then she could look forward to some heavy going.
And they would be out there for nearly four weeks!
Alex had been stunned when Gabriel had casually inserted that into the conversation as they’d boarded the plane to Madrid. Two weeks of possible hell with his parents and then a further two weeks criss-crossing Spain, where he apparently had a series of houses in various places. He needed to get to know his son and he intended to do it on his home turf. What could she say to that?
‘They’re not monsters,’ he told her with a hint of impatience. ‘You won’t be eaten alive.’
Between them, Luke stirred and curled closer towards Alex. She saw Gabriel note that imperceptible shift away from him and for a few painful seconds her heart constricted. Before she could be sucked in by her emotions, however, she felt the plane begin to dip and circle and then Luke was flying his pretend plane in his hand and bombarding her with questions. Somehow considering himself eliminated from the magic circle, Gabriel stared frowningly through the window and watched as the land beneath them got closer and closer until the plane was bumping along the runway and then, at last,
‘Don’t tell me you’re not impressed to death,’ Gabriel said lazily, almost forgetting the whole friendship thing she had encouraged. Under the jumper he could make out the jut of her breasts and the usual host of lustful thoughts sprang out of their loosely contained cages.
‘I’m not!’
‘Liar,’ he said softly, with one of those killer smiles that made her break out in nervous goose bumps. ‘I remember when I showed you that Ferrari all those years ago and told you that it belonged to a local celebrity. You were awe struck.’
‘I was a kid!’ Alex said loftily, trying and failing to drag her eyes away from his face. ‘Did it belong to you , by the way?’
‘Will you throw something at me if I tell you that it did?’
‘Well, I’m not impressed with that sort of stuff now,’ she said. She had a sudden image of them making love in the back of the red Ferrari, which had impressed her to death at the time. It would have been a disaster, of course. They were both way too tall to ever do anything serious in the back seat of a sports car, but that sleek BMW he now drove…
She went bright red and thanked all the saints that he couldn’t read her mind.
Then she wondered whether his politeness was so horrible because she didn’t feel polite around him . Did she secretly want him to still fancy her? Even though she knew that his taste in women ran to a completely different sort and probably always had? Even though he was the kind of guy she had repeatedly told herself over the years she would never again get involved with?
‘And I hope you don’t expect me to bow and scrape to your parents just because they’re rich…’
‘I expect you to be yourself.’ Gabriel could sense her withdrawal. Just when the conversation relaxed between them, she would pull back and it enraged him because, whatever she thought of the man he was, she should open her eyes to the guy he had become, a guy who was willing to stick around for a son he had never known he had. Did it get more praiseworthy than that?
‘How much longer before we land?’
‘Very soon.’
Alex’s stomach clenched. He had told her that his parents now knew everything. His plan to tell them face to face had been scuppered by his inability to get over to Spain in time and he could hardly show up with a ready-made family in tow and expect them not to jointly collapse from the shock. So Alex knew that she would be entering the lion’s den with no defensive suit of armour. She only hoped that they would be charmed by their grandson, even if they loathed her on sight, although if they were as stiff as Gabriel then she could look forward to some heavy going.
And they would be out there for nearly four weeks!
Alex had been stunned when Gabriel had casually inserted that into the conversation as they’d boarded the plane to Madrid. Two weeks of possible hell with his parents and then a further two weeks criss-crossing Spain, where he apparently had a series of houses in various places. He needed to get to know his son and he intended to do it on his home turf. What could she say to that?
‘They’re not monsters,’ he told her with a hint of impatience. ‘You won’t be eaten alive.’
Between them, Luke stirred and curled closer towards Alex. She saw Gabriel note that imperceptible shift away from him and for a few painful seconds her heart constricted. Before she could be sucked in by her emotions, however, she felt the plane begin to dip and circle and then Luke was flying his pretend plane in his hand and bombarding her with questions. Somehow considering himself eliminated from the magic circle, Gabriel stared frowningly through the window and watched as the land beneath them got closer and closer until the plane was bumping along the runway and then, at last,
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